2014 mississippi valley blues festival official guide

July 3-5, 2014 LeClaire Park Davenport, IowaJuly 3-5, 2014 LeClaire Park Davenport, Iowa

3 Days 27 Acts3 Days 27 ActsFree Workshops and

BlueSKool for Kids

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2 2014 Mississippi Valley Blues FestiVal

Welcome from the MVBS PresidentLet me take this opportunity to officially welcome you to the Mississippi Valley Blues Societys 30th-annual blues festival. This years event is the culmination of thousands of

hours of effort by the MVBS board and its countless volunteers who have worked tirelessly to bring this event to you. As such, we hope that you enjoy our event as much as we enjoy bringing it to you.

Thank you for your attendance and continued support of our organization and its mission of advancing blues music through educational outreach, performance, interpretation, and preservation. Simply put, it is only through your dedication and continued financial support that our organization exists and that this art form that we all love is allowed to thrive. Again, we thank you.

This years festival has an amazing musical lineup that is world-class in its breadth and depth. The lineup features local, regional, national, and international blues heavyweights who aim to both excite and inspire generations of festival-goers through their mastery of the art form. Also, please be sure to take a few moments to visit BlueSKool in LeClaire Park and the free workshops in the Freight House and enjoy the opportunity to play, listen to, and learn the blues with the best of blues artists.

If there is anything that we, as an organization, can do for you to make your festival experience more enjoyable, please dont hesitate to contact us directly, and we will do whatever we can to make that request a reality. Furthermore, we as an organization are always looking for new board members, committee members, and volunteers. If you love the blues and want to see it continue to thrive in our area, please take this opportunity to get involved. We have plenty of opportunities for you to make your contribution felt.

Thanks again for your participation in our event and your continued support of our mission.

Kevin Nolan President, Mississippi Valley Blues Society

Ticket and General Information Thursday, July 3: free admission at the

Harrison Street gate (Tent Stage); $10 (gate only) at the Ripley Street gate (Bandshell).

Friday, July 4, and Saturday, July 5: $20 advance tickets, $25 at the gate.

Advance tickets are available through June 30 at Hy-Vee stores in the Quad Cities, Clinton, and Muscatine; The Muddy Waters (1708 State Street, Bettendorf); the Mississippi Valley Blues Society office (102 South Harrison Street, Davenport; call 563-322-5837 first); and through PayPal at MVBS.org.

Children 14 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.

150 free tickets are available through June 30 to active military and veterans on a first-come/first-served basis at the the Mississippi Valley Blues Society office (102 South Harrison Street, Davenport; call 563-322-5837 first). One ticket per person showing the proper credentials.

Gates open one hour before the first performance each day.

No coolers. Parking for people with disabilities is

available in the Union Station lot off River Drive between Harrison and Ripley streets.

Award-Winning Anniver-sary

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. Earlier this year, the international Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, recognized the festival with its Keeping the Blues Alive award the equivalent of a lifetime honor for, in its words, one of the longest-running, most-prestigious blues festivals in the world. The festival is the only major blues event in the United States entirely produced by an all-volunteer organization.

Free Photo ExhibitPhotographers from all over the world

showcase their best works of art at the free photo exhibit, which is set up in the workshop space in the Freight House, just across the railroad tracks from LeClaire Park. This year features a retrospective of Mississippi Valley Blues Festivals. Its open from 2:30 to 8 p.m. on July 4 and 5.

FireworksThe Mississippi Valley Blues Festival is

joining forces with the Red White & Boom event to present the Quad Cities best fireworks display over the Mississippi River on Thursday, July 3. Admission to the Tent Stage from the Harrison Street gate is free that day. Admission to the Bandshell from the Ripley Street gate is $10.

RiverRoad Lifetime Achievement Award

The purpose of the MVBS RiverRoad Lifetime Achievement Award is to honor those artists who have devoted their lives to bringing river blues music that runs deep with emotion, like a river of the soul to anyone they meet on lifes highway. The Mississippi Valley Blues Society Entertainment Committee chooses as recipients of the RiverRoad award those bluesmen and -women who might not have been as recorded, recognized, or acclaimed as the stars but who are the true legends of the blues and the art forms living history.

This years recipient of the RiverRoad Lifetime Achievement Award is Eddie Shaw, a Mississippi sax man who came to Chicago and became Howlin Wolf s bandleader. He will be honored at a ceremony on Saturday, July 5, at 7:45 p.m. on the Tent Stage.

BlueSKoolBlueSKool is a special tent for children

on the festival grounds where they are encouraged to carry on the blues tradition through hands-on lessons. Veteran blues musicians and educators help the participants learn the history of the blues as well as how to play the blues. Each child goes home with a free harmonica in one session, and youngster graduates of the River Music Experiences Winter Blues program show how to put together a blues band in another.

Free WorkshopsWorkshops on topics ranging from how

to play an instrument to blues history to stories of blues musicians give adults the opportunity to learn from the true blues masters. The workshops are presented in the Freight House, an air-conditioned venue just across the railroad tracks from LeClaire Park. The workshops are scheduled for 2:30 to 8 p.m. on July 4 and July 5.

2014 Blues Festival Information

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more than clear Thorogoods parents were right about their son.

The bands first two records went gold on the strength of some blues covers: One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (drawn from songs by John Lee Hooker and Rudy Toombs), Hank Williams Move It on Over, and Bo Diddleys Who Do You Love?

by Jeff Ignatius

George Thoro-goods parents encouraged him to pursue a music career, but to hear the guitarist/singer/songwriter tell it, they didnt have much choice. They didnt see any more-conven-tional options to point him toward and they were just glad he wasnt following in the tracks of his brothers.

My older brothers, they were real terrors, Thorogood said in a recent phone interview. They were like the Dennis Hoppers and the James Deans of the Delaware area on their motorcycles. ... My parents almost wept when I told them I wanted a guitar for a Christmas present. They were so pleased they couldnt see straight. And once they saw me perform once or twice, they said, This is what hes destined to do. All he has to do is stay with it long enough to get good at it. And they also said this to me: George, you cant work. Thats true. I cant. Im not good at it. Could you imagine Tom Petty working in an

accountant firm? ... Some people are cut out to do what it is they do.

And, Thorogood added, it wasnt merely a hunch his parents had about him being a natural performer: They didnt think it. They knew it. ... You know your own children.

Of course, 40 years into the career of George Thorogood & The Destroyers, its

Breaking BadGeorge Thorogood & The Destroyers: Friday, July 4, 11 p.m., Bandshell

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Eugene, Oregon, introduced him to jazz, swing, and the blues.

Music was a very essential part of the family, the 60-year-old Portland resident says. My father was really into Count Basie. But there was also Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, a singer named Anita ODay ... . And my older brother and sister, in college, were really discovering the blues masters: Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin Wolf, Paul Butterfield ... .

All the blues masters, you know, were still alive back in the 60s, he continues. And college campuses were hiring them, so I saw a lot of those guys when I was 14, 15 years old.

After starting on guitar and switching to blues harmonica as a teenager, Salgado formed his own band Three Finger Jack while still in high school, and quickly realized that making music was his ultimate career goal. Happily for Salgado, his parents realized it, too.

I was kind of a knucklehead in school, says Salgado, even though I pulled it together and got decent grades.

But by 1972, Im 18, and my folks knew where I was headed. So after I was out of high school, my folks were like, Look, heres the money that Grandfather left for you to go to college. It was about 2,000 bucks, which was probably enough for, like, one semester of books and school. And they said, Heres money to pursue your music.

by Mike Schulz

If youre of my generation the genera-tion that, as grade-schoolers, used to stay up long after bedtime to watch the early years of Saturday Night Live there may be two names you most associate with your early exposure to blues music: Jake and Elwood.

Yet if you, too, became a fan of John Belushis and Dan Aykroyds famed Blues Brothers act through the duos SNL appearances, their 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues, and their 1980 feature film, the one to thank for your youthful blues immersion shouldnt be Jake or Elwood (or John or Dan). It should be Curtis.

Described by Blues Revue magazine as one of the most down-to-earth, soulful, honest singers ever, and a harmonica player who is rollicking, funky, and electrifying, Curtis Salgado has been at the forefront of the blues scene for decades. Included among Salgados considerable credits are his many years of professional partnership alongside five-time Grammy-winner Robert Cray, his headlining of blues festivals from San Francisco to Thailand, and his 2010 and 2013 Blues Music Awards for Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year the latter of which Salgado received after successfully battling lung cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2012.

Check out the liner notes for Briefcase Full of Blues, though, and youll see that Salgado is also the man that the album is dedicated to, making him the de facto reason many of us knew the lyrics to Soul Man before entering

high school. (Also check out the name of Cab Calloways character in 1980s The Blues Brothers movie. Its Curtis.)

Belushi told me that Aykroyd was trying to get him into the blues, but he wasnt biting, says Salgado during our recent phone interview. And then when he saw me, he got it.

As for the artist himself, Salgado says he got it from his family, who, from their home in

Blues BrotherCurtis Salgado: Saturday, July 5, 9 p.m., Bandshell


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told him I had $50 saved up, and he laughed at me and said hed carry me the rest of the way, straighten out my guitar-playing which he thought was a mess. ...

I never wanted to be a Gary Davis clone. Theres a lot of them out there. I just wanted to learn enough so I could come up with my own sound.

For 15 years starting in 1976, Binder lived full-time on the road in an RV. It was just great to always have a home on the road, he said. I dont think I could still be on the road if I didnt do it that way. People say, How do you do it? Youve got to make the road your life; its got to be a friend.

After getting married in 1991, he cut down his touring schedule to six months a year, spending the remainder of the year at his Florida home. (Binder guessed hes had between 10 and 12 RVs over the years, with the latest being a 2012 Winnebago Sprinter.)

Each years sojourn begins at North Carolinas roots-music MerleFest in North Carolina, at

which Binder curates a stage. For 19 years, I have been the impresario of what I named the greatest acoustic blues show on Earth, he said. Over the years, we have had every acoustic blues player of merit. ... Weve had everybody ... .

Its the greatest honor any festival has ever given me, he continued. Were keeping the blues alive.

Many blues festivals, he said, have eliminated or severely cut down on acoustic acts because people dont have the attention span to listen. At MerleFest, he added, were turning people on to finger-pickin blues, which is a dying art. And its tragic that the blues world has decided to let it go, except for an occasional one guy on early in the afternoon. Its a disgrace.

So when Binder performs at the Mississippi Valley Valley Blues Festival, he would appreciate your attentive ears. Most festivals are big parties where people drink a lot and jump up and down, he said. They dont even listen to the lyrics. Its all about lyrics and the heart and soul. ...

Why do I play anything? Because I want to be heard.

by Jeff Ignatius

Roy Book Binder considers last years The Good Book to be his most important album. And he never thought it would happen.

I didnt really want to make any more records, he said in a recent phone interview. I didnt want to do any more covers of [Mississippi] John Hurt and this one and that one. I figured, 70 years old coming up, why bother? ... I kept telling people, When I write enough songs, Im going to put out an album. I never thought Id really do it.

But, he said, there was another pull, the simple fact of getting older: If I dont make my mark soon, I aint ever going to make it.

He said he had two good songs, and I did a live album [2005s Live at the Fur Peace Station] just to get them out before I died, you know?

When people would ask about a new album, Binder said, hed pay lip service to the idea: I kept saying it would be out in the spring, but it never was. Then finally I said, Its really going to be out in the spring.

But when he returned home in the winter from his annual six-month trek around the country, his wife asked him how it was going. I got out my notebooks and my pads, he said, and I had like three and a half songs written, plus the two that I put on the live album ... . Then, during a visit to the Caribbean, the songs came to me.

The resulting record, he said, will likely be his legacy.

Its me, he said. I know Ive made a mark; I feel it around the country. But now I made a mark that Im really proud of. ... I finally did something Im proud of. ...

Its the first record I ever made that stands up to my heroes. My heroes werent [Reverend] Gary Davis and Pink Anderson, he continued, citing two of his mentors from the early stages of his career. My heroes are Merle Haggard and I dont know who else. I never wanted to be Gary Davis or Muddy Waters or Son House. The guys I wanted to be when I started out were Ramblin Jack Elliott and Dave Van Ronk. Theyre my folk heroes. They took traditional music, and

they made it their own. They changed it, they adapted it ... . They made their mark in the world. Nobody doing Robert Johnson songs is ever going to make a mark in the world ... . Youve got to be yourself.

For that reason, Binder doesnt consider himself a blues artist, even though his Web site dubs him Master of the Blues Guitar. The distinction, it appears, is less about style than about original songs and capturing an artists specific voice. His finger-picked acoustic blues put him equally at home with blues, country, and folk audiences. (Of his 1988-98 tenure with the Rounder label, Binder joked: Thats when I went country. I had my Nashville period. I did the exact same show I did with a bigger hat, baggier pants, and a bigger mustache.)

After leaving the Navy in the 1960s, Binder had three key friendships/apprenticeships: with Van Ronk, Davis, and Anderson. Van Ronk was a songwriting and guitar idol, and Andersons showmanship was a model for being what Binder called being an entertainer.

Davis, meanwhile, was a guitar tutor. I had two $5 guitar lessons, quit school, and went on the road with him, Binder said. I

Making His MarkRoy Book Binder: Friday, July 4, 6 p.m., Tent


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selling drugs and how much money they were making. But at the end of the studio session, he said, they all were scraping up dollar bills and change to pay for the studio session. I was like, How are you going to rap about some stuff that you aint even living?

By contrast, he said, the blues is an honest genre that allows artists to talk about their shortcomings. Everybody has the blues some way or another down the line, he said, and after his injury, its just what started coming out.

But its not traditional blues. Hip-hop wordplay sneaks in, as do the influences of country, R&B,

and soul. All those different genres, they were already embedded inside of me before I actually started, he said. When I actually write music, when I actually write lyrics, they

an important outlet for his youthful anger, but Singleton said he struggled with what he saw as a disingenuous culture. He recalled finishing a recording session and watching the next act in the studio, rapping about

In an ideal world, Jarekus Singleton would probably still be playing basketball. But performing at the Mississippi

Valley Blues Festival in support of his Alligator debut Refuse to Lose, released in April aint half-bad, either.

Singleton grew up in a musical family, playing bass at his grandfathers church starting at age nine. It was a family thing at church, the 29-year-old said in a recent phone interview. I knew I was musically inclined, but I didnt really know the significance of what I was doing. I was doing it to help the church out. ... Music was always the foundation of everything, because that was what our family leaned on.

But Singleton loved basketball and pursued a pro career. After the 2006-7 college season, he was named the NAIA national player of the year, averaging 24.7 points and 6.3 assists per game for William Carey University. He then played professionally in Lebanon.

Anything that I do, I kind of get obsessed with it, he said. I was really focused on basketball.

But in 2009, he said, he came down wrong while playing and tore cartilage in his ankle. And thats how I got back into music eventually.

It started when he was in a cast and recovering from his injury. When I was laying in my bed in my room, and this guitar that my granddaddy gave me was sitting in the corner of the room, I just grabbed it. I just started playing. And thats what I would do: I would just lay in my bed and play guitar all day long.

He soon began performing with local bands in his native Mississippi. I had a gig almost every night of the week, he said, but it wasnt fulfilling: I was playing with bands that werent honest. His mother suggested he strike out on his own, yet Singleton still had dreams of returning to basketball dreams his ankle wouldnt cooperate with.

I realized that my ankle was not going to get back to where it was, he said, and then that music is what youre supposed to be doing.

The blues came naturally, even though hed written and performed hip hop in high school and college. That music, he said, was

Obsessed with an Honest Genre Jarekus Singleton: Saturday, July 5, 6 p.m., Tent

by Jeff Ignatius


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being ever-present during her formative years.

My mother and her sisters have beautiful, beautiful voices, she says. My mother had eight sisters, and they were all gospel singers, and growing up, my siblings and I all had to learn how to play piano. But nobody ever really wanted to do anything except sing in the church. Except me.

Still, even though Murphy-Webb admits that she wished it all through high school wished

that I could make some money singing, she had always leaned toward more pragmatic options. I thought I might be a veterinarian. And for a while, I wanted to be a stewardess. Well, you dont say that anymore ... . I wanted to be a flight attendant. But Im afraid of planes, so that got thrown out the window.

By her early 20s, however, while also working other jobs, she found herself occasionally serving as a substitute singer at local clubs, and I started dating a musician. You know, thats how all trouble starts. And his singer could not make a gig, so he asked me if I could just learn a couple songs, like Fly Me to the Moon and Summertime you know, those standard jazz tunes. And Im like, Yeah, okay. And I did the songs and I loved them so much, and jazz just seemed to fit me.

I loved the harmonies, Murphy-Webb continues. I loved the saxophone. But I realized, early on, that I was not a belter. That I didnt have that Aretha Franklin/Patti LaBelle thing happening. And thats when Vince Willis hes a keyboardist here told me to go see Von Freeman, because I wanted to learn how to sing jazz. Willis said, Von Freeman has a jam session at the El Matador. Why dont you go over there? And thats how all this really started.

Recalling her first visit to the El Matador club, Murphy-Webb says, I went to see Von, and all these singers were getting up there and the musicians were playing, and Vons personality was just overwhelming. And I just sat in the back. I was afraid to sing, so I just listened, and I kept coming back I think I went there four or five times before I finally got up the nerve to speak to him.

And when I did, he said, Well, baby ... . She laughs. People tell me I act just like him now, and I probably do. He said, Well, baby, come

Its about 15 minutes into my phone conver-sation with jazz vocalist Margaret Murphy-Webb. Shes energetic and engaging and boasts an infectious laugh, and every once in a while she calls me baby, which I like a lot. And then, knowing that the artist is pursuing a music degree at Chicago State University after nearly 30 years of performance, I ask her if, because of tuition and other costs, she has to supplement her income with any additional jobs.

Oh, baby, you dont know! she exclaims. Im a Chicago police officer! August 1 will be my 20th year!

I actually did not know this (nor, for the record, would any other visitors to MargaretCMurphy.com, where that information is noticeably absent). I apologize for my ignorance and ask if its cool to mention her career in print, and she says, Oh yeah! I just assume people know, but I try not to tell people. Thats dirty laundry. She laughs. But they dont boo me when they know Im a police officer!

Of course, Im betting that the musician doesnt ever deal with booing, given her gorgeous phrasing and vocals, and her presence

that the late, great jazz saxophonist (and Murphy-Webbs former mentor) Von Freeman said reminds you of Betty [Carter] and Billie [Holiday] in that, from the moment she steps onto the stage, she has the audience enraptured.

Born in Gary, Indiana, Murphy-Webb (a mother of three who is married to Chicago bassist Chuck Webb) moved with her family to the west side of Chicago when she was a year and a half old, and the artist remembers music

Watch What HappensMargaret Murphy-Webb: Friday, July 4, 4:30 p.m., Tent

by Mike Schulz



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Their sound is just so wonderful, says Lora Adams, the WQPT director of marketing and local content who produced the Westbrook Singers specials for her PBS affiliate. Theres something that comes from a family of singers like with the Osmonds or the Jacksons where theres a similarity in the vocal quality, so their harmonies always sound different, and better, from others. They really know how to follow each other, and every time you hear them, you cant help but be uplifted.

Chronologically the eighth of the 11 Westbrook siblings, Delores says her performance career unofficially began in kindergarten, when she started singing with family members at East Molines Community

If youre one of your parents 11 children and are looking for something reward-ing and fun to do with your 10 brothers and sisters, there are actually a number of options to choose from. You could, for example, form a football team. Or a soccer team. Or a field-hockey team.

Or, you could do what the children of East Molines Charles and Barbara Westbrook did: You could form your own band.

We did all of it, says Delores Westbrook-Tingle of her and her siblings ensemble the Westbrook Singers, who began performing together in 1975. I mean, some of us just played instruments we had a couple of drummers, keyboard players, a guitar, a bass guitar ... . So when we actually started, all 11 of us, we had all our musicians and the vocalists, as well. She laughs. We were pretty much self-contained.

Nowadays, however, the official number of full-time Westbrook Singers stops at four; after seven performers either moved from the area or retired from the group, the current lineup consists of Delores, brother Gary, and sisters Brenda Westbrook-Lee and Cynthia Westbrook-Bryson. Yet given the gospel quartets smooth, stirring vocals and harmonies that clearly come from lifetimes of practice together, no one who has heard the group in its numerous concert and festival sets, CDs, or televised specials for the Quad Cities TV station WQPT could argue that theyre getting only four-11ths of a great thing.

Outreach Church of God in Christ. Our father was the pastor and had his own ministry, and our mother played piano, and so initially, for the most part, we were the church choir. (Delores parents were married for 70 years before Barbaras passing in 2011.)

But it wasnt until 1974, after several siblings had begun performing outside the Quad Cities, that Delores and her siblings united under the moniker

The Original Westbrook Singers, a decision made following a near-fatal incident involving brother Ken. While touring with an R&B group in Minneapolis, an altercation led to Ken being shot by his bands keyboard player and left on a hospitals steps by fellow bandmates. The Westbrook siblings, consequently, brought their brother back to East Moline, and started their group in the hopes of aiding Kens recuperation, and giving him a safe place to continue his music and ministry.

It was all very, very scary, says Delores. But a lot of times, situations like that have a great, positive outcome, and had that not happened,

The Sibling RingThe Westbrook Singers: Sunday, July 5, 3 p.m., Tent

by Mike Schulz


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venue that used to be called El Matador, and the jam that used to be hosted by her mentor Von Freeman.

Oh, baby, the jazz jam has to go on! she says. Mike Ross, on guitar, is one of Vons babies, and James Perkins, on saxophone, is one of Vons babies, and its so exciting for us that weve all known each other for 30 years, and we can still come together on Tuesdays and have this jam session.

Some nights, she continues, its disheartening because well have eight people in the room. But then the next week well look up and therell be 50 or 60. How do you know? But I remember times with Von, we would all be sitting there, and sometimes, itd just be the musicians, me, and a couple singers, and that was it. And we would just jam like the room was full of people. Sometimes thats just as good.

And, of course, Murphy-Webb has her upcoming engagement her first at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival.

I was so ... oh my goodness, I couldnt believe it! she says of the opportunity, I was at a gig when I got the call, and I was changing clothes, and I was told, We would love for you to come. And I was just like, What? You want me to do what? Youre where? Is it is Mississippi?

But eventually I was like, Oh yeah! Ill be there! And were making a family thing out of it. Were spending the night, and were gonna see all the other acts, and my daughters bringing her kids. And I gotta bring my A game! Im presuming thats not the name of her gun.

on and do something! Do you know a song? And I knew Watch What Happens, and I knew my key, so I sang Watch What Happens. And I sang it every Tuesday for about four or five months until Von finally pulled me to the side and said, Baby, you need to learn some more songs. If you learn some more songs, I bet I can get you some gigs.

With that, says Murphy-Webb, she decided to begin her jazz training in earnest, embarking on a professional relationship and personal friendship with Freeman that lasted over 30 years, until he passed away in 2012.

Von was very, very, very instrumental in my career, she says, because Im gonna say that 90 percent of the songs I know, Von taught them to me. And he loved Billie Holiday. Everybody associates her with Hush Now and God Bless the Child, but Von taught me a lot of her tunes that people dont do, like Youre My Thrill and Im a Fool to Want You.

Freeman also instilled in Murphy-Webb the confidence to pursue a professional music career, even though as suggested by her 20 years on the Chicago police force it continually dovetailed with her pursuit of other means of income.

I started working at this club called The Other Place, which is gone now, on 75th and King Drive, says the Chicagoan. That was my first paid gig. But I also had a job as a medical assistant at that time, so I would go to The Other Place and work from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. for $30.

Man, it was a rough gig, she says with a laugh. But there was music there every night, and the place was always packed, and people loved it because you could work out your stuff work out your tunes. So I got the chance to play with a lot of Chicago musicians, and meet a lot of musicians ... . That was my debut. That little hole in the wall.

By age 28 or 29, she says, Murphy-Webb graduated from hole-in-the-wall bookings with the formation of her own jazz quartet that performed throughout the Chicago region. And by the mid-90s, during a year-and-a-half stay in Arkansas, the artist even performed for President Bill Clinton at a charity ball in Little Rock nearly 20 years before she performed for another president, Barack Obama, at a fundraising event in Chicago. (He has a truly magnetic personality, she says of our commander-in-chief. Oh my! When he swept on stage and said to me, May I use you microphone?, my husband was playing bass and had to say, Hes using your mic, Margaret. Just

hold yourself together.)Yet Murphy-Webbs musical career which

has led to frequent concert and festival engagements, her 2007 solo CD In Full Bloom, and last years concert tour in Paris was briefly sidelined in 2008, when the musician was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.

When I had my biopsy, she says, I was told, Well give you your results in a couple of days so dont worry about this, but I have to tell you, this is a large tumor. So I was all set for a mastectomy, and I was fine with that. I wanted to live a long life. But thankfully, it didnt happen. I ended up with just having a lumpectomy, and now, on my left side, Im 16, and on my right side, Im 58.

Laughing, Murphy-Webb continues, And Im happy to be here. But when I was going through chemo, I was just sitting at home, and I was just ... . I couldnt work. I felt sick. But I wanted to learn how to play piano. So I decided to sign up for piano, and the advisor at the music department at Chicago State said, You know what? While youre recuperating, just get a music degree.

Baby, he made it sound so easy! she adds, laughing again. And it was not easy. But it kept my mind off being sick, and it kept my mind off the medication. And now that Im okay and Ive got this clean bill of health, Im going to enjoy my life. Im gonna be happy, and I wanna try to make everybody else around me happy.

At present, a big part of what makes Murphy-Webb happy is her hosting of a weekly jazz jam (with partner Anderson Edwards) at the Chicago venue The 50 Yard Line the

Watch What Happens by Mike SchulzContinued From Page 8


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Obsessed with an Honest Genre by Jeff Ignatius

just come out. I just have my own twist and my own imagination on the way I want to approach a song. It was just me being who I was; it was just letting the music come out freely, and letting it flow.

That, Singleton said, appealed to Alligators president, Bruce Iglauer who co-produced Refuse to Lose. He liked the fact that I didnt know the rules, Singleton said. To push this genre forward, you cant be an imitator. Youve got to be an innovator. ... I cant do what Muddy Waters did. I cant do what Albert King did. ... I can be Jarekus.

Reviewers have also taken a shine to Singletons singular style. The All Music Guide wrote: Singleton combines his fiery, fascinating, I-may-go-anywhere electric-guitar leads with an urban, hip-hop, narrative songwriting style that still remains undoubtedly rooted in the blues ... . [That] Singleton manages to stretch the blues genre while still maintaining all of its familiar attributes is a pretty impressive achievement.

And Blues Rock Review added: Jarekus Singleton is arguably one of the hottest, most exciting new musicians on the blues scene today.

But Singleton remains grounded. On I Refuse to Lose, he sings about his final year of college when, in addition to leading his team on the basketball court, he worked as a janitor. Theres a certain humbleness and a certain humility that comes with having a tough job, he said. Here I am national player of the year, and Im scrubbing toilets every week.

And while the blues wasnt Singletons first choice for a career, he said its a good fit for him: There are real people in the blues. ... I was striving to be in a community that I felt like was an extension of who I was.

Continued From Page 7

to nursing homes, we went to prisons ... . Just wherever we could minister and deliver Gods message is where we would go.

But she says that with the manufacturing industry changing the way that it did, a few of our brothers, in particular, left the area to find work to support their families. We all also worked full-time, of course. I work for John Deere, which is where most of us were employed, and when the economy started changing, some wandered off to International Harvester or other places like that.

Yet for Delores herself, I was pretty much focused on staying here. Both my husband and I were from the area, and we had jobs at Deere that we were happy with, so we were content to make a living here. It turned out that Gary, Brenda, and Cynthia were content to stay as well, and so, about 10 years ago, the siblings group officially re-formed as the Westbrook Singers quartet.

Weve pretty much kept the same schedule of rehearsing every week, says Delores, and if were doing something where were learning new material or whatever, we may meet more often. But were still performing at festivals and ministering at the same time. We havent necessarily changed where we go. Just the number of people who go.

Theyve also begun to expand their fan base through the release of CDs The Westbrook Singers current discography includes 2008s The Westbrook Singers Live and 2013s The Promise, both available through TheWestbrookSingers.com and their televised specials, with WQPTs Lora Adams a particular fan.

I was doing a show called Artists in Profile, says Adams, and I wanted to profile them, but I also wanted to do some concerts. So I literally built a set, and I had hair and makeup people come in, and I went shopping and got

Im not sure the 11 of us would have come together.

The Westbrooks, says Delores, began rehearsing at a minimum of once a week. If we had a performance or something coming up, we would possibly do it more frequently, but for the most part, that was our consistent schedule. And different [siblings] would bring different songs to the group that they wanted to introduce. I think the younger ones probably relinquished some of the responsibility, in terms of decisions, to the older ones, but everybody had the opportunity to present whatever they wanted.

Regarding the selections for their gospel repertoire, Delores says, We did a lot of quartet-style music initially. Most of the time we had, I would say, five or six singers while the others played instruments, and those singers wouldnt necessarily all sing at the same time. At most we would have five parts and the minimum was three. But we really enjoyed doing that quartet style songs by quartet artists whose names probably wouldnt mean very much, because they werent in the mainstream of music.

Yet despite the inherent squabbling that can arise among siblings, she adds that there was never any in-fighting about which Westbrooks would be showcased on which numbers. It was actually more of a struggle to get people to lead songs, says Delores with a laugh. There was nobody that was just raring to be front and center, so I dont think we ever really had any arguments about that.

Performing together as a group of 11 for, as Delores says, 10 to 15 years, the Original Westbrook Singers performed locally, or performed around the country at different fests. And we had a ministry where we went

everybody costumed I mean, I was having myself the best ol time. And they did two concerts: the Christmas concert which is not something that they typically do, frankly and the gospel concert.

I just smile every time Im around them, she continues. Theyre just delightful, wonderful people who just happen to be extraordinarily talented. You can definitely say, Lora Adams loves the Westbrook Singers. And to hear Delores tell it, the Westbrook Singers love being the Westbrook Singers.

Thisll be, I think, our third appearance in the Blues Fest, and we also participated with the Mississippi Valley Blues Society a few years back, where we were able to go into different schools and present gospel music as part of their residency program. And one of the things were doing right now is we have a gospel-music camp that we do for kids that are 10 to 18 years old. This will be the third year since we formalized the program, and were doing it in July at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Rock Island, and its a week-long camp where the kids are exposed to gospel music and its influences.

Its so rewarding for us, she continues, to be able to present that music to kids and hear them leaving the auditorium still singing our songs. I mean, for the four of us, this is our passion. And when youre always trying to experiment, and trying to develop your God-given talent, it never gets boring.

For me, its probably even more exciting now than it used to be, simply because what you sing now has more meaning because youve lived a little longer. Youve experienced more things, and youre able to deliver the music with more passion for the song itself. I mean, says Delores with a laugh, this is totally different from when I was singing a lot younger without any experience in life!

Continued From Page 9

The Sibling Ring by Mike Schulz

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from Roomful of Blues I became a solo act, and shortly thereafter, I scored a record deal and put out my first record.

I cringe when I say it, because it has such a stupid name, but the bands name was Curtis Salgado & the Stilettos. We made a record that sold about 60,000, 70,000 copies and got a little bit of chart play, and it launched me to a certain level. And since the release of that self-titled 1991 album, says Salgado, Ive just been soloing and trying to get to the next level ever since.

Curtis Salgado & the Stilettos went on to open for Steve Miller during the musicians 1992 tour, and two years later, Salgado spent a summer serving as lead vocalist for the rockers of Santana. (It was an educational experience, says Salgado of his brief Santana tenure, but it wasnt where I belonged. The musicians were incredible. Incredible. But for me, it was just a mismatch.) By 1999, the musician had signed as a solo artist with Shanachie Records, and went on to release a quartet of critically acclaimed titles culminating in 2008s Clean Getaway, which earned Salgado Blues Music Award nominations for Soul Blues Album of the Year and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year.

Yet Salgado is quick to say that those professional accomplishments pale next to his quitting of alcohol and drugs in 1988, and his recoveries following two bouts with cancer one that required a 2006 liver transplant, and one that led to the 2012 removal of the bottom lower lobe of one of his lungs.

As he had no health insurance at the time, the costs for the former, $300,000 operation were covered by friends and fans, including some 5,000 of whom attended a fundraising concert organized by Salgados longtime manager Shane Tappendorf. Among those on the bill were friends including Robert Cray, Steve Miller, and Taj Mahal, and Salgado knows that if it werent for the tremendous support hes received from others (Bonnie Raitt, he says, payed for my rent while I was in the hospital), hed no longer be able to share his love of the blues.

One person called up and gave me $60,000. Another person called up and gave me $38,000. I have an ex-girlfriend Andrea, still a great friend of mine who volunteered to donate half her liver to me. I mean, who does that? Those are miracles. Theres miracles involved in all of this.

Im just blessed to be alive. Theres been so much given to me that I feel like I owe the universe. And so while I find more joy in music now, I find more joy in everything. Life is finite, and you need to enjoy it, and its better to give than receive. Thats it, man.

Beginning with its sets at an establishment called the Roman Forum (which Salgado, with a laugh, calls a very tough bar), Three Finger Jack performed at a run of venues within Eugenes University of Oregon district. That band, says Salgado, then developed into another group that was called Harold & the Nighthawks and then Harold left when he became a Communist. He would show up at gigs handing out Communist newspapers about our government and stuff, putting them on all the tables and chairs ... . And this was during the Vietnam War.

So it developed into just the Nighthawks then, he continues, and we became very popular. Eugene is located on I-5, which is the major highway that runs from Canada down to L.A., so wed basically play a run of I-5 gigs in Oregon. And thats when I hooked up with Robert Cray, because hed moved down to Eugene.

For several years after his 1973 introduction to Cray, says Salgado, We used to play gigs together the Nighthawks and the Robert Cray Band. As a little side gig, we played a splinter group which was basically me, Robert Cray on guitar, one of our keyboard players, and Richard Cousins on bass we called ourselves the Crayhawks. But wed also play in the ballroom of the Eugene Hotel on a weekend every once in a while. Robert would play the first set, the Nighthawks would play the second set, and the third set wed get together both bands, about 11 or 12 guys on stage, and wed do a revue.

And then one night, while on a break from the 1977 filming of National Lampoons Animal House, John Belushi showed up.

During the Nighthawks section of the show, recalls Saldago of that particular evening, were playing, and a guy comes up to me and goes, Hey, Belushi wants to meet you. But Im in the middle of a song. Im singing. The bands playing. And again, he yanks on my pant leg and goes, Hey! Belushi wants to meet you! I knew who this guy was he was a little cocaine dealer, like five-foot-two and I go, Go away! What are you doing?! And I ignore him and continue singing. And when the set ends, I jump off the stage, Im heading toward some girls, and this little guy grabs me and whips me around and says, Belushi wants to meet you!

Now, I had no idea what Saturday Night Live was, says Salgado. I had never seen it, I had no television, I worked on weekends I still work on weekends. So Saturday Night Live was not in my life.

But Salgado did know that Belushi was in

town to film Animal House, a movie whose titular frat house was located on Eugenes 11th Street, and a movie in which Robert Cray and numerous other Eugene musicians were hired to portray band members for the Shout-ing group Otis Day & the Knights.

So he comes up and we shake hands, says Salgado, and he goes, Hey, man, I like your music. I go, Thank you very much. And he goes, I have a friend and he kind of looks like you. His name is Dan Aykroyd. He plays harmonica, too. And I remember thinking, Who gives a f---? And Im starting to break away, and Belushi realizes I dont know who he is. And I dont.

But he starts talking about the movie hes in, and about Robert and the other guys in the band how Robert taught them all a dance step the other day. And then Belushi says the magic words. He goes, Well, Im in this show called Saturday Night Live, and Im really excited because were gonna have Ray Charles on the show this next weekend. And I go, What?!? Youre gonna have Ray Charles on?!? And thats when I just glommed onto him.

For the next several weeks, during other breaks in Belushis filming of Animal House, Salgaso says, I started bringing him records. Hes listening to Blue yster Cult and stuff, and Im bringing him Magic Sam, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Lowell Fulson ... . And much to his credit, he was interested. Hed come see the Nighthawks, hed come see the Crayhawks and he said he wanted to do something like this on Saturday Night Live.

So one day I went over there with some records and he goes, Look, man, youve done all this for me, so what can I do for you? And I wasnt smart enough to go, Well, if youre gonna turn this into something, maybe I should get a lawyer and get some sort of creativity fee, says Salgado with a laugh. So all I said was, Look, give credit where credit is due. Those records you have there, theyre my records. I got some from my brother and sister, and theres a few from my mom and dad in there. So just spread the music. And he goes, Okay.

So they did, like, five songs on the [Blues Brothers] album that he saw the Nighthawks do. This song called Hey, Bartender, and a song called Groove Me by King Floyd, and Soul Man. And they dedicated Briefcase Full of Blues to me.

Salgado, meanwhile, continued to be dedicated to the blues. I went from the Nighthawks to the Robert Cray Band, he says, and from Robert Cray to Roomful of Blues, with whom he played from 1984 to 1986. And

by Mike SchulzBlues BrotherContinued From Page 5


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The Johnny Kilowatt Band with Gloria Hardiman, 5 p.m.

We have a great opener for the 30th-annual Mississippi Valley Blues Festival! The Johnny Kilowatt Band featuring Gloria Hardiman will get your blues blood pumping!

Jon Klinkowitz, a two-decade veteran of the Iowa blues scene, is the frontman and guitarist for the Johnny Kilowatt Band from Iowa City.

Klinkowitz was a founding member of the Blues Instigators and played with the group from 1990 to 1995, during which time the band won the University of Iowa RiverFest Battle of the Bands (in 1994) and the inaugural Iowa Blues Challenge (in 1995). The band backed Bo Diddley in 1993 and played the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in 1993 and the Iowa City Jazz Festival in 1995. During Klinkowitzs tenure, the band opened for Lonnie Brooks and Rod Piazza at Buddy Guys Legends in Chicago and appeared on the syndicated television show Chicago Blues Jam. Klinkowitz formed the Johnny Kilowatt Band in the late 1990s; other members include fellow Blues Instigators alumnus Ed English on bass, Tim Crumley on drums, Bill Peterson on keyboards, and veteran jazz musician Saul Lubaroff on sax.

Joining the band at the 2014 Mississippi

Thursday, July 3: Bandshell

That George Thorogood & The Destroyers has thrived less with original material than the songs of others makes its longevity, mainstream commercial success, and household-name status nearly singular in the rock world. But that hints at whats special about the band and its leader: They inhabit and devour the songs rather than interpret them. As the All Music Guide wrote about the bands debut, The Destroyers play so hard the group seemed like a gang of primitives, and as he hammers away at his guitar, Thorogood plays with personality, his enthusiasm for making noise readily apparent.

(Theres also something to be said for comfortable stability, as The Destroyers have been anchored by drummer Jeff Simon and Bill Blough since the 70s. And theyve never taken themselves at all seriously, boasting of being The Worlds Greatest Bar Band.)

Of course, George Thorogood & The Destroyers with their 1982 major-label debut added a signature original to the repertoire: Bad to the Bone.

Writing that song, Thorogood said, was a naked bid for immortality. Start building a catalog, he said. Start building a repertoire. Get one song, two songs, three songs. ... I need songs. Nobodys going to remember me.

Thorogood wrote Bad to the Bone with the idea of Muddy Waters performing it (not interested, his representatives said), and then he thought of Bo Diddley (but he didnt have a record deal at the time). Ultimately, EMI insisted that Thoroogood record it. He recalled that the label told him: We signed you because of the song Bad to the Bone. ... Thats what got us interested in you.

Despite the songs immediate success and cultural ubiquity over the past 30 years, however, Thorogood said he wasnt sure if it would represent a lasting legacy. I didnt know I nailed it until four or five years ago. ... Thats the test of time.

Thorogood said he knew in the early 70s what he wanted to do; it was just a matter of will and practice. I didnt play guitar, he said. I got started late. I started playing shortly before my 21st birthday. I just fooled around with the guitar before that. Id been singing in bands, just basically in high school imitating Mick Jagger and Eric Burdon like every other lead singer. I never thought much of guitar. Then once I got out of school, I started thinking, You can do this. I heard Johnny Winter, I heard John

Hammond, I heard Bonnie Raitt, I heard the Allman Brothers, and I said, You can do what those people do. All youve got to do is start doing it. ...

I absolutely had a vision of what exactly it was I wanted to do when I picked the thing up. I wanted to get that blues-funk thing going. I had that same idea that [ZZ Tops] Billy Gibbons had revved-up blues-rock-type stuff. ... I knew I could do it from the moment I picked up the guitar.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers formed in 1974, and its self-titled debut sat on the shelves of the Rounder label for 18 months before its 1977 release.

Its always rough before your first record comes out, Thorogood said. And for me, it wasnt rough; it was hell. ...

There was a man who wanted to record us. He was a bus driver, if you can believe that, and he wanted to start his own label. He had no idea about the record industry. Thats how desperate I was. And then Rounder pretty much took pity on me and said, Lets put out one record to shut this guy up. Its a pity that a band that could play like this is recording a record for a guy who makes 200 bucks a week. Hes not even a record executive; hes a bus driver. And Rounder was going to distribute the record. And I was like, This is ridiculous. Bourbon, Scotch, & Beer is a hit. I dont know why people cant see that. I had other material to back it up Madison Blues, Ride on Josephine, Move It on Over. People couldnt see the forest for the trees.

Although George Thorogood & The Destroyers draw heavily from the blues and early rock-and-roll, its set headlining this years Mississippi Valley Blues Festival will likely remain true to what the band has been doing for the past four decades, distinguished by its frontmans trademark slide guitar.

The irony is we dont do any blues, Thorogood said. We havent been a blues act in 35 years, really. We might have to dig up a blues song, but dont get your hopes up. We play pretty much straightforward rock at this point. ...

B.B. King plays blues. I dont know how to play blues. Buddy Guy plays blues. Gear Jammer is a rock song. Who Do You Love? is a rock song. Thats basically what we do at this point.

by Jeff IgnatiusBreaking BadContinued From Page 4

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three years in Jimmy Rogers band. These apprenticeships served him well when he started his own band, Nick Moss & the Flip-Tops, in 1999, and began writing and recording an acclaimed series of albums for his own Blue Bella label.

But take note that what well get on the Bandshell is not Nick Moss & the Flip-Tops but the Nick Moss Band, which just released Time Aint Free in March. The new CD reaches deeper into soul, funk, and rock n roll, according to Billboard.com. Tom Hyslop of Blues Music Magazine describes Time Aint Free this way: Blending elements of Parliament, the Allman Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Faces, even Afrobeat, and at times evoking an Ike Turner-Little Feat summit, the set encompasses Muscle Shoals sweetness, stormy postmodern boogie, greasy roadhouse R&B, soul-tinged rock, and gospel-inflected ballads, all filtered through Moss deep-blue lens.

The Nick Moss Band is made up of Moss on guitar, vocals, and harmonica; Michael Ledbetter on vocals, guitar, and percussion; Patrick Seals on drums and percussion; Nick Fane on bass; and Taylor Streiff on piano and organ.

New vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ledbetter recently told Terry Mullins in Blues Blast: This is what I would like to do; along with bringing our new brand of the blues along, I would like to also keep the straight-ahead Chicago blues alive. ... I would really like to get back to people having an appreciation for those kinds of blues. Thats what we try to do in every show we do. The Nick Moss Band and myself personally are on a mission to do that for the music world.

Karen McFarland

Kim Simmonds & Savoy Brown, 11 p.m.SavoyBrown.com

At the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival,

Dog Jones and A.C. Reed as well as Detroits own Queen of the Blues, Alberta Adams. With a nod to T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian, as well as Luther Tucker and Robert Lockwood Jr., Doug leaves his own mark, whether swingin on the big jazz box or playing straight-up blues on his solid-body Fender guitar.

Now Doug is together and touring with Dennis Gruenling, whose harp playing has won him accolades from musicians and critics around the world. Backed by the Jewel Tones, Doug and Dennis play traditional blues, West Coast and Texas swing, early rock, country, and roots music.

Dennis Gruenling has earned recognition for his swinging, highly original harmonica sound and style. Drawing from the harmonica and swing sax styles and tradition, Dennis is pushing the boundaries and is pioneering a whole new sound and direction for the harmonica. This is an act that Im sure will have the attention of all our talented harp players at the blues festival.

The Jewel Tones consist of Andrew Cohman on upright and Fender bass and Devin Neel on drums. Cohman was born in Ohio and raised in Florida. He started playing traditional blues guitar at the age of 15 and switched to the bass at 25. Andrew played the Tampa/St. Pete blues scene until he joined the Jewel Tones in 2011. Neel grew up in Indiana playing piano, then drums by 19. Devin played drums with the Bottom Feeders as well as other local groups, and has toured with Damon Fowler.

Ellen Clow

Nick Moss Band, 9 p.m.NickMoss.com

Nick Moss began playing bass at an early age, and by the time he graduated from high school, he was in demand in the Chicago blues scene. He played with Jimmy Dawkins and later was asked to play bass in Willie Big Eyes Smiths Legendary Blues Band. It was Willies idea for Nick to switch from bass to guitar. Then he played guitar for

Valley Blues Festival will be Chicago blues vocalist Gloria Hardiman, who has toured internationally and recorded for Alligator Records.

Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, Hardiman was a preachers daughter and expressed her religion in the gospel she sang. When she was six years old, her family moved to Chicago, where she continued her music within the church, encouraged by many including Mahalia Jackson. Later, Hardiman took her talent into the blues clubs and stages of Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City, Nebraska, the Carolinas, Canada, and Europe. She played everywhere from piano bars to hospitals, outdoor festivals to weddings. She appeared with Roy Buchanan on the 1986 release Todays Blues Volume 2 and was the featured vocalist with Professors Blues Review on Meet Me with Your Black Drawers on from the 1987 Alligator collection The New Bluebloods: The Next Generation of Chicago Blues.

Karen McFarland

Doug Deming & Dennis Gruenling with the Jewel Tones, 7 p.m.DougDeming.com, DennisGruenling.com

Born and raised in Detroit, Doug Deming now resides on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Dougs inventive guitar licks, great songwriting, and upbeat dance music made him a regular in the Detroit clubs. While playing in the Detroit blues scene in the early 90s, Doug spent many years backing the days top touring blues bands, including Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson, legendary Louisiana bluesman Lazy Lester, and Chicago greats Johnny Yard

Thursday, July 3: Bandshell


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The Mercury Brothers, 6 p.m.Congratulations to the Mercury Brothers for

winning the 2014 Iowa Blues Challenge! The Quad Cities band first beat out the competition in a local round and then in the final round in Des Moines for the opportunity to represent the entire state of Iowa at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next January. This band

is tight and professional, and includes some of the best musicians in the Midwest.

Make sure you bring your dancing

shoes for this set by the best band in Iowa! The Mercury Brothers play original blues, R&B, soul, and roots music as well as covers that sound like their own. They pull from deep repertoire of artists from the Blasters to The 5 Royales.

The Mercury Brothers are Ric Burris on vocals and harmonica, Chris Avey on guitar and vocals, Joe Collins on guitar, Don Gustofson on bass, Tony Carton on drums, and George Smith on saxophone . The whole is more than the sum of its parts applies to the Mercury Brothers sound. Be prepared to be swept away into the Mercury Brothers river of blues!

Karen McFarland

10 of Soul, 8 p.m.10OfSoul.com

This high-energy 10(ish)-piece Quad Cities band brings to the stage a dynamic range of classic tunes from the soul, funk, and blues genres, as well as a few funky arrangements of their own. Featuring five versatile vocalists, a tight rhythm section, and a four-piece horn section, this band has made it their sole (or soul) mission to entertain its audiences to the fullest!

The members of 10 of Soul are all professional musicians, many of whom are also educators and all of whom have day jobs but come together to pay a genuine tribute to soul, funk, and everything in between. 10 of Soul are David Abdo on bass; Kevin Bohach on trumpet and flugelhorn; Chrissy Boyer on vocals; Dwayne Hodges on vocals; John Ladson on drums; Nina Little on vocals; Travis Lopez on trumpet and flugelhorn; arranger Mike McMann on trombone; Jim Powell on keys and vocals; Tyler Roberson on guitar and vocals; and Rusty Ruggles on saxophone.

Karen McFarland

Thursday, July 3: Tent

Ernie Peniston Band, 10 p.m.Earlier this year, Muscatine native Ernie

Peniston came out of retirement and put together a reunion band for a gig at the Muddy Waters in Bettendorf. That project was so successful that the Mississippi Valley Blues Society Entertainment Committee decided to invite Ernie to play at the Blues Fest. You are in for a treat!

Frontman and vocalist Peniston formed the Ernie Peniston Band in the Quad Cities in the late 80s, and the current players are a reiteration of an early 90s lineup. This group in particular is very special, and its one of my favorite lineups, says Peniston. Rick Penhallegon is the drummer and a central-Illinois native. Penhallegon went to Augustana College and played in the jazz program there. He later became an associate percussion instructor at Augustana and part of the Faculty Jazz Chamber Group. Penhallegon joined the Ernie Peniston Band in 1991 with fellow Augustana guitarist Joe Collins, who has been a staple of the Quad Cities music scene since joining Ernies band. With Ernie Peniston Band bassist Bo Butler, he also formed Elixir, which won the 2001 Quad Cities Iowa Blues Challenge. Butler is the current bassist for the Miracles.

Penistons unique style is derived from classic blues and the distinctive Minneapolis music scene of the 70s and 80s that produced such musicians as Prince and Morris Day originally Ernies drummer in their band Enterprise in the 80s. Ernie Peniston has shared the stage with Prince, The Temptations, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, James Brown, Albert Collins, and many others. He also spent four years as the frontman for Blind Pig recording artists the Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings, traveling the U.S. and Europe. Peniston was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame in 2003.

Ernies set will be a great nightcap for the fireworks over the river.

Karen McFarland

well see the 32nd configuration of Savoy Brown in its almost 50-year history: Kim Simmonds on guitars, keyboards, harmonica, and vocals; Pat DeSalvo on bass; and Garnet Grimm on drums. Of course, Kim Simmonds is the common denominator in all the lineups. When I started the band back in 1965, says Savoy Browns iconic frontman and guitarist, the concept was to be a British version of a Chicago blues band. Now, here we are in 2014, and once again, the music on this recording echoes the blues sounds of Chicago.

Released in February on Ruf Records, Goin to the Delta follows 2011s acclaimed Voodoo Moon and last years live set, Songs from the Road. The bands style has evolved in many directions, whilst always keeping the blues as its root, says Kim of the Savoy Brown back catalog. Now weve come full circle. The songs and playing on [Goin to the Delta] are straightforward in focus and as basic as blues should be.

Rewind to 1965, and Kim was a linchpin of an exciting scene in music history, establishing Savoy Brown in the first wave of British blues boomers, signing to Decca, opening for Creams first London show, and being name-dropped in the same breath as peers like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix (with whom he jammed). Even then, the guitarist was emerging as the bands driving force. Soon enough, Savoy Brown had achieved what most British bands never did success in America and became a major Stateside draw thanks to their high-energy material and tireless work ethic.

By 1979, Simmonds had moved from a London he no longer recognized to settle permanently in New York. The Savoy Brown band members came and went, and the music scene shifted around him, but Kim Simmonds stuck to his guns and reaped the rewards, performing in iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Fillmore East and West, releasing more than 30 albums, and later enjoying a well-deserved induction into Hollywoods Rock Walk of Fame.

adapted from SavoyBrown.com

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Observer Music Awards. They released the CD titled Tell You What in April 2013, also on Underworld Records, and have received even more great reports from fans and reviewers, spending several consecutive months at the top of various blues charts and radio playlists. They have spent time as the Dallas-area backing band for Big Bill Morganfield (the son of blues legend Muddy Waters). According to Blues Underground Network, Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch are the best thing out there right now for their type of music, in the category of blues rock nobody else even comes close. Jason also performs solo acoustic shows on a regular basis. They are now currently at work on their third studio album, which will have even more blues material than their previous albums. Ive had the pleasure to see Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch three or four times, and their high energy along with Jasons devastating guitar chops and vocals will be sure to impress everyone. Jasons abilities as a guitar player, singer, and songwriter are second to none, and his good humor and charisma turn fans into friends at every show.

Steve Heston

Tad Robinson, 7 p.m.Tad Robinson.com

Tad Robinson has been nominated for a total of seven Blues Music Awards for Male Soul Blues Artist and Soul Blues Album since 2005. Downbeat Magazine notes that Robinson places near the top of the list of

the finest living singers of soul blues. Don Wilcock, editor-in-chief of BluesWax, said this about Tad Robinsons performance at the 2011 Blues Music Awards: Tad Robinson may not look the part of the deeply inflected soul singer, but his delivery and his original songs suddenly elevated him in my mind to a level shared with Curtis Salgado and John Nemeth.

I couldnt agree more. When I saw Tad Robinson perform at the Muddy Waters last year, I knew hed put on a great show at the Blues Fest! As Bill Dahl of AllMusic.com points out, Tad Robinson would have fit in snugly with the blue-eyed soul singers of the 1960s. His vocals virtually reeking of soul, hes capable of delving into a straight-ahead Little Walter shuffle or delivering a vintage O.V. Wright R&B ballad. Add his songwriting

skills and exceptional harp technique, and you have quite the total package.

According to David Whiteis in Living Blues,

Tad Robinsons vocal style owes obvious debts to vintage-era Al Green and other soul sophisticates, but he blows harp with the rough-hewn exuberance of a post-war Chicago juker. ... He incorporates stylistic elements of the fabled soul men Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, James Carr as he deems appropriate, but they all meld into a voice that is distinctly his own.

The only way to understand all this praise for Tad Robinson is to hear him for yourself! In a day filled with the Mississippi soul of Dexter Allen and the Memphis soul of Preston Shannon, Tad Robinson will be able to hold his own and then some.

(Tad Robinson will also present a workshop on Friday at 4 p.m.)

Karen McFarland

Preston Shannon, 9 p.m.PrestonShannon.com

I first heard Preston Shannon in a club on Beale Street in Memphis and was impressed enough to bring his name up to the Mississippi Valley Blues Society Entertainment Committee for more than three years. The King of Beale Street is a singer who sounds like Otis Redding and

Dexter Allen, 3 p.m.DexterAllen.com

I had the luxury of seeing Dexter Allen for the first time in 2011, at the Windy Citys blues festival. I heard an amazing musician!

Someone turned to me and said, Thats Dexter Allen, the Blues Man from Mississippi. Dexter was born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, the

son of a preacher. His grandpa was a deacon. Dexter began playing guitar at the age of 10, and thumping the bass at the age of 12.

Gospel was the first influential music in his life. Dexter moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1995, where his music career took off with Airtight Records, a local independent label. He shared his musical and writing talents in the studio recording R&B, hip hop, blues, pop, rap, country, and gospel.

Later, Dexter signed on in the lead guitarist role for Bobby Rush, the blues legend. Because of his unique style, Dexter was awarded the 2008 Jackson Music Award for Male Vocalist of the year. Earlier in 2008, Dexter began to write and record his own music and delivered an album titled Bluezin My Way, a bluesy, soulful album, with stories of love, lust, lies, and alibis.

In 2009, Dexter won the Jackson Music 2009 Entertainer of the Year Award. In 2011, Dexter released his current CD, Bluezin For Life, which takes you back to the roots with a host of originals and arrangements. Dexter is able to play every instrument on the stage without missing a beat. His smooth voice and songwriting abilities are extraordinary.

Tracy Martin

Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch, 5 p.m.JasonElmore.net

Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch was formed in 2008, a power trio that includes Brandon Katona on bass and Mike Talbot on drums. Their debut CD, Upside Your Head, was released in 2010 on the Underworld Records label. The CD got voted as one of the top 60 albums of the year by The Blues Report, and the song Black Widow was voted as one of the top 30 songs. The band comes from the Dallas, Texas, area and in 2012 was voted best blues band in the Dallas

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plays guitar in a style influenced by Albert King, Little Milton, and T-Bone Walker. Ray Stiles at MNBlues.com describes Prestons sound this way: His raspy, forceful, and expressive vocals simmer and soar as he soothes, grooves, and moves like the best of the legendary Memphis soul singers. Shannon is a master of vocal control and phrasing and can switch from deep-rooted

soul to down-and-dirty blues easier than anyone.

Born in Olive Branch, Mississippi, Prestons family moved to Memphis when he was eight. There he heard and fell in love with the blues.

He began playing around town at age 18 and for the next 20 years played in a succession of Memphis bands on weekends while working in a hardware store by day. A break came in 1987 when he toured with soul-blues singer Shirley Brown, and he gained the confidence that he could do this on his own. In 1991, he put together his own band, and soon thereafter he was discovered in a Beale Street club by producer/keyboardist Ron Levy, who connected Preston with Rounder Records.

Preston recorded three albums for the Rounder Bullseye Blues subsidiary: Break the Ice (1994), Midnight in Memphis (1996), and All in Time (1999). Preston was nominated for three Grammy awards for All in Time, which was produced by and includes songs by Willie Mitchell (a collaborator with Al Green and Otis Clay). Last year Preston was a contestant on the hit NBC show The Voice, and he is testing his acting skills working in the movie Free in Deed, to be released in January 2015. Prestons latest CD is a tribute to Elmore James called Dust My Broom. It might sound funny to have a Memphis guitar player not playing James signature slide parts, but add horns to the mix and the result is a magnificent Memphis soul stew.

(For a 2012 River Cities Reader interview with Preston Shannon, visit RCReader.com/y/shannon.)

Karen McFarland

George Thorogood & the Destroyers, 11 p.m.GeorgeThorogood.com

For George Thorogood and his longtime band The Destroyers Jeff Simon (drums, percussion), Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler (rhythm guitar), and Buddy Leach (saxophone) their 40th anniversary is indestructible proof that staying true to yourself and the music can still mean something. And with a catalog of iconic hits that includes Who Do You Love?, I Drink Alone, One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, Move It on Over, Bad to the Bone, and more, being able to share it with audiences is what will always matter.

Surprisingly, Thorogood began his career as a solo acoustic act. I was more of a Robert Johnson/Elmore James country-blues player, he explains. That soon petered out, but Id gotten enough feedback from artists like Brownie McGhee and Willie Dixon who thought I had something going. I knew I needed more. George called high-school friend and drummer Jeff Simon, and with the addition of a bass player as well as Jeff s van the electric trio soon graduated from basement rehearsals to local gigs. We knew there was still time for one hardcore high-energy boogie-blues band to make it. We relocated to Boston, and toured the Delaware Valley, Philly, and New England

nonstop. Crowds loved us. The acts we were opening for, like Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf, loved us. We were playing great, but still couldnt get a record deal and didnt earn more than $200 a night.

Their 1977 debut George Thorogood & The Destroyers would soon be certified gold. It had sat on the shelf for 18 months and was finally released the day Elvis died. And for audiences and radio alike, the band instantly embodied and continues to define powerhouse rock with bar-band roots, unchained attitude, and a fierce love of its country and blues history. Over the course of 16 studio albums (including six gold and two platinum), they would storm the charts by putting their own stamp on nuggets by Hank Williams, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, and more, while simultaneously bashing out smash GT originals that crackle with humor and swagger.

Stan Musial was once asked, What was the greatest day of your career?

And Stan said, Every day when I walk onto the field is the greatest day. I feel the same way, George says. Every night when I walk out on that stage is the highlight of my career. I hit that first chord, the band kicks in, and we hear the audience respond. Thats the rush. Forty years into this, and every night, thats still the only moment that matters.

from GeorgeThorogood.com

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doing summer Rock Camp programs since she was eight and dont forget dancing, cheerleading, gymnastics, drawing, painting, crafts, cooking, and swimming, too.

Matt Fuller is 16 years old and has been playing guitar since he was seven years old. He started out as a drummer but discovered he loves playing guitar, also. Hes performed with several famous musicians, including Tommy Castro, Lil Ed, and Billy Branch. Some of his favorite guitarists include his grandfather (John Pena of the Pena Brothers and Serious Business), Buddy Guy, Albert King, and B.B. King.

Michael Osborne, 13, has played the piano since age six and since then has picked up drums, guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, and harp. He has played multiple instruments and even sang vocals during the Rock Camp and Winter Blues programs at the River Music Experience for the past three years. He has had the pleasure of performing with the Candymakers and Kevin B.F. Burt. Michael listens to many different musical artists and loves to play the blues.

Sarah Elisabeth Hanson, from Viola, Illinois, developed an interest in all forms of vocal music as soon as she learned she could easily manipulate the sound of her voice. Since singing her first solo in kindergarten, she has performed in various locations throughout the Quad Cities, including Cool Beanz, SouthPark Mall, the Festival of Trees, the Quad City International Airport, the Speakeasy, and Circa 21, as well as with the Quad City Symphony childrens choir and Sunshines Performing Arts Studio.

(Students from the Winter Blues program will also appear at BlueSKool on Friday and Saturday.)

Margaret Murphy-Webb, 4:30 p.m.MargaretCMurphy.com

Having majored in voice and jazz piano at Chicago State, Margaret Murphy-Webb has been performing in the Chicagoland area for more than 25 years. She developed

her unique vocal style and showmanship under the tutelage of world-renowned tenor saxophonist Von Freeman.

As the leader of her own quartet, Margaret has headlined the Chicago Blues Festival and Chicago Navy Pier and Chicago Lake Michigan cruises. Margaret has performed for two presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as well as for ambassadors from Russia and Poland. She has opened for piano greats Joe Sample and Chick Corea, and the soulful, sensational Tower of Power at Chicagos House of Blues.

Murphy-Webbs Mississippi Valley Blues Festival band features Tom Vaitsas on piano, Peter Learner on guitar, Chuck Webb on bass, and Ben Johnson on drums.

Murphy-Webb has appeared as Billie Holiday in the musical production Legends in Heaven, and as Phyllis Hyman in the production of Somewhere in My Lifetime. Margaret produced and performed in the widely acclaimed show Three for Jazz at the DuSable Museum of African American History (with jazz vocalists Tecora Rogers and Marc Courtney Johnson), and as one of Chicagos Eleven Jazzy Divas she performed at Chicagos African Festival of the Arts.

Margarets debut solo CD, In Full Bloom produced by her husband, bassist Chuck Webb can be heard on independent radio stations throughout the United States, England, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Portugal, and Macedonia. The CD is a combination of straight-ahead and smooth-jazz favorites by Dizzy Gillispie, Al Jarreau, and other jazz greats as well as Sade and Bette Midler. Margaret was awarded a Grindie (independent radios Grammy) for her cover of the Sade song Pearls. Margaret is recognized as a RadioIndy Gold Artist for outstanding vocals and production on a jazz CD.

Currently the producer and hostess of the Jazz Jam Revival a jam session dedicated to the memory of Von Freeman Margaret Murphy-Webb hopes to continue the legacy of the Tuesday-night jam, where musicians, vocalists, students, and jazz lovers can come together in the spirit of networking and share their love of music.

Nate Lawrence

Roy Book Binder, 6 p.m.RoyBookBinder.com

TheCountryBlues.coms profile: Not only is Roy Book Binder a terrific guitarist, he is a true songster with a giant repertoire;

Winter Blues All-Stars, 3 p.m.The Winter Blues All-Stars is composed

of talented young musicians selected from the River Music Experiences Winter Blues program. The annual Winter Blues program features vocal and instrumental workshops (guitar, bass, harmonica, keyboards, and drums), as well as a concentration on blues composition and improvisation. These sessions are open to musicians from eight to 18 years of age and are led by Ellis Kell of the River Music Experience and Hal Reed of the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, with other veteran blues musicians from the region as special guests.

Jesse Barger is 16 years old and has been playing guitar for two and a half years. He took lessons for about six months from Tony Carducci at West Music, learning mostly from listening to records. He was inspired to play music by listening to The Band, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, and Son House. Guitar influences include Robbie Robertson, Peter Green, Roy Buchanan, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and David Gilmour.

Noah Schneider is 16 years old and a junior in high school. He started playing the guitar when he was about eight and was 13 when he started playing seriously. This is his third year playing in the Winter Blues program, and he plays in the church praise band every Sunday. Noah is very happy to get the chance to continue on after the Winter Blues program and excited to have the opportunity play with the Winter Blues All-Stars this year.

MacKenzie Noppe is 12 years old, and she plays drums, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboards, and she also sings and just picked up a saxophone for school band. She even sang lead vocals while playing the drum set when she performed Walk This Way by Aerosmith at the Redstone Room Rumble. MacKenzie has been involved in shows at the Center for Living Arts since she was five years old, attends events at the River Music Experience once a month, is a member of the Quad City Flash Mob Troupe, has been

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he is virtually a walking encyclopedia of folk music. Book Binder is fundamentally a blues- and ragtime-rooted troubadour and one of the last great characters in a land where the culture that he represents, a heritage that traces straight back to the turn of the 19th- to 20th-Century minstrels, is almost lost.

Steve Cheseborough of Living Blues: With his laid-back vocals and strong slide guitar, Roy Book Binder sometimes evokes J.J. Cale, or Dire Straits early, acoustic songs. But Book Binders inspirations go way back. Having worked closely in the 60s with Piedmont masters Reverend Gary Davis and Pink Anderson, and having toured constantly for decades, Book Binder is a seasoned, mature blues artist with a sound of his own. He is a genuine example of the traveling-bluesman tradition that began in the 20s, was revived in the 60s, and continues today.

Roy himself: SINGER-SONGWRITER-STORYTELLING-BLUESMAN ... . Roy Book Binder has been rambling around the world for the past 45 years! He gave up his Greenwich Village pad in the early 70s and lived in his Tour Bus for the next 15 years, crisscrossing the U.S. and appearing at festivals throughout Canada and Europe. Book Binder traveled with the legendary Reverend Gary Davis in the late 60s ... . The Book recorded his first solo acoustic blues album in the 70s, which was the first to receive five stars in Downbeat magazine! In the late 80s The Book was part of Bonnie Raitts East Coast Tour, which included an appearance on The Grand Old Opry, which led to almost 30 appearances on Nashville Now!

Thats the end of Roys short bio. Of course hes been traveling and playing,

singing, writing songs, and telling stories since the late 80s and is now a veteran guitar instructor, often found teaching at the Fur Peace Ranch with Jorma Kaukonen and others whose lives have been influenced by the Reverend Gary Davis. Im sure Roys got tales to tell since he last visited the Blues Fest in 2001.

(Roy Book Binder will also present a workshop Friday at 2:30 p.m.)

Karen McFarland

Anthony Big A Sherrod, 8 p.m.Twenty-nine year-old Clarksdale,

Mississippi, native Anthony Sherrod grew up in a musical home. His father, E.J. Johnson, is a gospel singer and still performs with the group The Golden Stars. At the age of six, Anthony picked up his first guitar and hasnt stopped playing. In fact, he not only plays guitar but bass, drums, and keyboards and he sings.

Big A was schooled by a noted blues teacher in the Delta area, Mr. Johnnie Billington, who taught not only the music but the

value of hard work and knowledge of the culture and history from which Mississippi blues emerged, a world where the musicians worked at very hard, low-paying agricultural jobs. Big A and his band were regulars at Sarahs Kitchen, one of the areas major blues venues, until proprietor Sarah Moore was killed in an auto crash and the restaurant went out of business. He has played at numerous other clubs and events in the Delta area.

Recordings of Big A are few; he appears on bass with Alvin Youngblood Hart and the late, great drummer Sam Carr on a song called Joe Friday in the 2003 film Last of the Mississippi Jukes. Sherrod is also featured in the 2012 film We Juke Up in Here, now as the band leader. He offers a spirited performance of a song called Call Me a

Lover in the best tradition of male boasting (along with a bit of humor), and he also wrote and plays the title track for the film. Big A is an exciting performer who freely moves around a performance space with some fancy footwork.

from MississippiBluesProject.org

Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, 10 p.m.TerranceSimien.com

Two-time Grammy winner Terrance Simien brought his Creole for Kidz and The History of Zydeco programs to Quad Cities schools in 2013 as part of the Mississippi Valley Blues Society Blues in the Schools residency program. A zydeco musician, vocalist, and songwriter, Terrance is an eighth-generation Creole from one of the earliest Creole families documented to have settled in St. Landry Parish in Louisiana. He was introduced to music via the piano at home, the Catholic-church choir, and school band programs in which he played trumpet.

While in his teens, he taught himself to play accordion and formed his first band Terrance Simien & The Mallet Playboys and began to play the regional zydeco club and church-hall circuit. I remember seeing Terrance Simien & The Mallet Playboys on the Bandshell at the 1988 Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. I even took a photo, trying

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three festivals in Canada, and Buddy Guys Legends.

Winners of the 2010 Windy City Blues Society Chicago Blues Challenge Youth

Showcase, they have since opened for Ronnie Baker Brooks, Billy Branch, and the Kinsey Report. They have recently released a

CD t

2014 mississippi valley blues festival official guide

Documents